What To Do in Inverness

Cruise Liners

Port Office, Shore Rd, Invergordon IV18 0HD

Cruise Liners

Invergordon is a town with a tremendous history stretching back through two World Wars and is now a centre for oil-rig refurbishment and maintenance. It is also a major port of call for cruise liners with 2012 seeing over 60 visits bringing some 77,000 passengers to the area.

The cruise liners are greeted by a piper and a pipe band plays as the ship leaves. If the liner requests it, a Scottish folklore show can be put on for the passengers (on-board the ship) about an hour before it is due to leave.

The popularity of the port continues with some fifty cruise liners calling into the sheltered deep water Port of Invergordon on the beautiful Cromarty Firth from May to September each year.

Invergordon is often referred to as 'the best natural harbour in Europe', this means that deep sea ships can come and leave the harbour no matter the state of the tide.

To check cruise liner details Tel: 01349 852308 or go to http://www.cfpa.co.uk/port-activities/cruise/

Invergordon welcomes the cruise liners with pipe bands and traditional dancing.

Excursions from the Cruise Liners take the passengers to Loch Ness, Dunrobin Castle, Whisky Distilleries and golf courses in the area.

Invergordon Murals. The "Invergordon Off The Wall" group was set up in January 2002 to address the social and economic deprivation of our town through the medium of the arts, to promote the rich and diverse history of the town,Cruise-Liners7.jpg illustrating the events, people and industries that shaped this 'Noble Harbour'.

Their objective was to create a professionally executed outdoor art gallery, accessible to tourists and locals alike, involving the whole community. They set out to emulate the success of the Canadian town of Chemainus which, like Invergordon, had lost its major employer and came up with the innovative idea of creating skillfully executed murals.

Invergordon has been very successful in achieving its objectives, today you can see 11 murals, each very professionally put together. We highly recommend taking the time when you vist the town, to take time to look at each mural. To learn all about each Invergordon mural, we recommend you go to their web site to read about the detail of how and why each was chosen.

The Invergordon Naval Mutiny. Invergordon is well known for the Naval Mutiny from 15th to 16th September 1931, soldier-murial.jpgwhen the British Atlantic Fleet took industrial action. For two days, ships of the Royal Navy at Invergordon were in open mutiny, in one of the few military strikes in British history.

The cause of the strike was that In September 1931, (at the time of the Great Depression), the new National Government made up of both the Labour and Conservatives Parties launched massive cuts to public spending, including the armed forces. A 10% cut would cause great hardship to the already poorly-paid ratings. Ratings below Petty Officer who had joined before 1925 would have their pay cut by 25%.

Sailors of the Atlantic Fleet, arriving at Invergordon, learned about the cuts from newspaper reports; athletes-murial.jpgsome reports implied that a 25% cut would be imposed on all ratings. A group of sailors met at a football field in Invergordon. They voted to organise a strike.

The sailors returned to their ships; many gathered on deck to protest. Rear Admiral Tomkinson (in temporary command of the fleet whilst Admiral Sir Michael Hodges was in hospital) informed the Admiralty of the protests, stating that the cause seemed to be the disproportionate pay cut of 25% for some ratings. The protesters prevented their ships from sailing to take part in practice maneuvers, they only carried out essential duties, including the provision of safety patrols and fire guards. The crews remained respectful to their officers throughout, and officers had done their best to explain the government's reasons for the cut in pay and that complaints would be taken seriously.

Rear Admiral Tomkinsons' report of the incident concluded that the mutiny had been caused primarily by the 25% cut for junior ratings, that there were no grievances besides the pay cut, and his belief that the complaint was well founded. He also believed that any use of force would have made the situation much worse.

The Cabinet accepted Tomkinson's recommendations. A number of the organisers of the strike were jailed, a total of 200 sailors from the Atlantic Fleet were discharged from the service. The Admiralty held Tomkinson accountable for the mutiny, blaming him for failing to punish dissidents after the first protests.

The Invergordon Mutiny caused a panic on the London Stock Exchange and a run on the pound, bringing Britain's economic troubles to a head that forced it off the Gold Standard on 20 September 1931.

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